Mornington Crescent Loop

Due to an alleged 'miscalculation' in the 1973 IMCS Rulebook Tables, an entirely new form of loop emerged – the now-legendary Mornington Crescent Loop. 1973 saw a complete overhaul of the token interchange system, and amendments now made it possible to enter Mornington Crescent carrying twelve red tokens (or equivalent).

Being a green clockwise station in most variants, this meant that any player claiming MC with at least ten tokens was immediately subject to a forced pass – play thus proceeded to the next player before endgame could be initiated. This forced pass would obviously remain in effect until the player's token level dropped below eleven, and since tokens are cumulative on open stations, any other player landing there would also be working with a token level above ten.

The opening weeks of the 1973 season saw numerous games where every player became trapped at MC with no way to end the game. The problem was solved two months later in the 1973 Loop Amendments.

[KD]

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